What does Loin Des Hommes, the new Warren Ellis and Nick Cave soundtrack sound like? Two guys stoned on hashish walking around in the Algerian desert. They pass by abandoned churches and ruined orphanages reduced to rubble. Maybe a dead dog or bird.

They don’t have much to say to each other but they’re mysteriously compelled to keep walking on, their destination not entirely clear. Two tiny dots in the breath-taking rugged Algerian landscape. They’re greeted by moments of haunting and fragile beauty like the omen of a raven perched on the edge of a drinking well. A nest of flowers blooming in front of a child’s grave. You can hear the shimmering mirage and hot sun beating down. The flies buzzing round the carrion.

I haven’t seen the film but these are the images evoked. Taken out of context, as a stand-alone work, this latest soundtrack from the dynamic duo of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is a work of desolate beauty. If one were expecting more a raї Algerian folk presence, there are hints, but Cave and Ellis stick to the usual formula of violin loops and sparse melodic piano offset by ominously distorted electric guitar. On the title track and 'The March' things are interrupted by some vocals in what appears to be a foreign tongue, presumably Algerian.

While not as innovative as their work on The Proposition or as rousing as the Lawless soundtrack, Loin Des Hommes has an unsettling, unearthly quality very much akin to their work on Jesse James and The Road. While no new ground is broken, one thing is certain: Cave and Ellis have developed a signature sound and style all their own. A worthy addition to their soundtrack cannon.